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Bella shivers.
"Shit." I strip my MC jacket off and wrap it around her shoulders. The damn thing fits her like a dress, but she snuggles into it gratefully. She looks cute as hell. Might just have to get her into my clothes more often.
"Why is it so cold?" she asks.
"Servers," Hacker says, pointing to a row of equipment along the back wall. Lights flicker and flash, and the entire row hums and whirs like a thousand fans running simultaneously. "They generate a lot of heat, so I have to keep it cold to keep them running. If they overheat, it fucks up every other system I've got running."
"Oh."
"Through here," he says, holding open the door to his office.
Bella steps inside, her mouth gaping open when she sees his setup. It’s impressive. Two massive, curved monitors are stacked on top of one another, with smaller monitors on each side. He has three different keyboards of various types, about fifteen pieces of equipment that I have no name for, and a mouse neatly arrayed on top of his desk. I fully intend to steal his chair one day. It's comfortable as fuck.
"Holy crap. You're like the freaking Tesla of hacking," Bella mutters
Hacker chuckles, sliding around her to a laptop set up on the edge of the desk. "I get by," he says, all humble and shit. In reality, the man makes millions doing what he does. Everyone from Fortune 500 companies to the federal government has his ass on speed dial. "You'll call on this, Bella."
She drifts closer, listening as he runs through the instructions with her. It's simple, really. He's set the laptop up on a secure line that traces back to some other location. So long as she's connected to the VPN, using the phone number and program he installed, she can chat with her family whenever she wants.
"I'll swing by later to make sure you can access the VPN from home," he says.
She grabs his arm, her eyes wide. "I can talk to them from home?"
I growl, a low, rumbling sound.
Bella immediately drops her hand from Hacker's arm, jumping back a step. She turns those baby blues on me, damn near bowling me over.
"Sorry," she mouths.
"Possessive asshole," Hacker says without heat.
Ten minutes later, Hacker leaves the office, giving Bella privacy to call her family. She squirms in his chair, trying to get comfortable.
"You're stalling."
"Am not."
"Yeah, you are."
She huffs out an annoyed breath. "I'm nervous. What if Isla is still mad at me?" Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, worrying it. "I don't want her to be mad at me anymore, Tiny."
"Then tell her that, baby." I nudge the laptop toward her. "You'll never know if you don't call."
She grabs my hand, looking up at me. "Will you stay?"
"You want me in here?"
"Yes," she whispers.
"Yeah, I'll stay, Mischief." I press my lips to her forehead in a gentle kiss.
She exhales a breath and presses the button to call her family. I lean back against the wall behind her, trying not to crowd her but sticking close. I want to pick her up and put her in my lap. But I figure Mac and I should have a conversation before I show up onscreen with his baby girl in my lap.
"Pirate Princess!" A curvy blonde woman's smiling face fills the screen, her gaze warm as it runs all over Bella. "Oh, sweetheart. We miss you so much."
"Hi, Mom," Bella whispers. "I miss you too."
"Are you okay, baby girl? Are you giving Cormac trouble?"
